Comets discovered in November 2015

2015 V1 (PanSTARRS)

As described from CBET 4160 Richard Wainscoat, RobertWeryk and Eva Lilly reported a discovery of a 20th magnitude comet in four i-band exposures taken on Nov. 2.60UT with the PANSTARRS 1.8m Ritchey-Chretien.
After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP and PCCP webpages, other CCD astrometrists have also noted the object's cometaryappearance.

The preliminary calculation find a perihelion time of October 2014 and q of only 0.28AU,but the following day, with new observations the orbit was improve with this orbital elements (MPEC-V61 2015):
T 2017 Dec. 20.41806
q=4.3503324
Peri. 178.14837
Node 196.61684
Incl. 139.27614
e 1.0
From 35 observations 2015 Nov. 2-6.

2015 V2 (Johnson)

Jess A Johnson discovered a 17th magnitude comet on CCD images obtained with the Catalina Sky Survey’s 0.68m Schmidt on Nov. 3.44UT. As reported on CBET 4161 the comet had a 10-15” diameter at the moment of the discovery.
After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP and PCCP webpages, other CCD astrometrists like C. Jacques, E. Pimentel, J. Barros, H. Sato, A.Mantero and others, have also noted the object's cometary appearance.

From a total of 102 observations during Nov 3-6 G.V.Williams computed an orbit with this parameters(MPEC 2015-V44):
T 2017 June 3.64303
q=1.5740451
Peri. 166.51708
Node 69.01055
Incl. 49.28034
e 1.0
The comet could be a binocular object on 2017.

6-Nov-2015 ©Joel Nicolas

2015 V3 (PanSTARRS)

As described from CBET 4162 Richard Wainscoat, Robert Weryk and Eva Lilly reported a discovery of a 22th magnitude comet in four i-band exposures taken on Nov. 2.60UT with the PANSTARRS 1.8m Ritchey-Chretien.
After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have also noted the object's cometary appearance.

Orbital elements obtained from 24 observations Nov 2-6(MPEC 2015-V60):
T 2015 Nov. 1.00460
q=4.2449003
Peri. 357.01404
Node 2.30831
Incl. 86.65439
e 1.0

2015 V4 (PanSTARRS)

A comet has been found on CCD frames taken on Nov. 3.6 UT with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1. At the moment of the discovery, the objet was faint as 20 mag with a short but distinct tail extending for 5”.
After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists, like H.Sato, A.Maury and other have also noted the object's cometary appearance.

From 26 observations Nov 3-13 G.V.Williams computed an orbit of 81years(MPEC 2015-V167):
T 2016 July 29.58252
q=5.5568453
Peri. 303.25770
Node 180.61009
Incl. 60.70184
e 0.7048211
a 18.8253483
P 81.7

2015 W1 (Gibbs)

Alex Gibbs reports the discovery of a comet on images obtained with the 0,68m Schmidt telescope in course of the Catalina Sky Survey on November 18.49UT. From four co-added 30s exposure images the comet showing a 7” and 12” tail in p.a.230deg.
After the comet was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists commented on the object's cometary appearance. H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan) stacked eight 60s exposures obtained on Nov. 18.73 UT with an iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph at Siding Spring to find the comet to be strongly condensed with a faint outer coma 15" in diameter, with no tail. Images obtained by W. H. Ryan and E. V. Ryan with the 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector at Magdalena Ridge Observatory on Nov. 19.4 show a distinct coma (of mag 19.9-20.1) and tail at p.a. about 235 deg. Images obtained by R. G. Matheny with the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector on Nov. 19.5 show a coma of size 8" x 10", elongated in p.a. 240 deg, with a tail about 30 degrees wide pointing generally toward p.a. 225 deg.

From 53 observations during Nov 18-21 G.V.Williams computed an orbit with this parameters (MPEC 2015-W43):
T 2016 May 3.35818
q=2.6388933
Peri. 34.73246
Node 115.69382
Incl. 85.41003
e 1.0

P/2015W2 (Catalina)

An apparently asteroidal object discovered in CCD images obtained by J. A. Johnson and G. J. Leonard in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey has been found by other CCD astrometrists to show cometary appearance after the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage. H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan, obtained ten stacked 60-s exposures with an iTelescope 0.61-m f/6.5 astrograph (+ luminance filter) at the Sierra Remote Observatory near Auberry, CA, USA, which show the comet to be strongly condensed with a coma 10" in diameter and no tail, with a w-band of 18.6 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 5".0.

On MPEC 2015-W73 appeared the preliminary elliptical orbital elements by G.V.Williams from 90 observations Nov 21-29.
T 2015 Oct. 2.96511
q=2.6793317
Peri. 118.27181
Node 294.19720
Incl. 11.61547
e 0.6317478
a 7.2758074
P 19.6

back

No results found.